Whippet Photo Contest: My Heart Has Been Stolen by a Silly Little Clown!

by Linda Musolino
(Quincy, IL, US)

Max helping me get through home projects

Jim and Max sleeping cheek to cheek

You mean there's a more comfortable way to sleep?

This is the story of our whippet Max.

Just a little over a year ago, the lady who runs the kennel I use asked if I wanted to adopt a new dog.

I have always been an akita owner and never believed any dog could be as wonderful as my akitas.

My husband and I agreed to meet this little dog, who's breed at the time was unknown.

The owner had to find a new home for Max because he was getting too big for her condo.

She invited us to dinner to meet him, but when we got there the dog was kenneled in a bedroom while we had snacks.

I didn't have the heart to hear his cries, so I went and opened his kennel.

My husband and I were appalled! This little black dog jumped up on the table and started licking every type of food container he could get his mouth on.

I was shocked, but there was something about him, and his living conditions that made me want to take him home.

The Mom worked a busy full-time job with crazy hours, and the boys were either in school or with their dad when mom was working.

Long story short, we had the little guy meet our akita, Bella. They went through a few growly visits, and we finally brought him home.

Max immediately became the source of more laughter than any dog I've ever known. Even when he's bad he makes us laugh.

We know he has something bad when he races through the house and out the doggie door so fast all you see is a black blur.

We always find him with something he shouldn't have, like sugarless gum, someone's new socks, a purse, or whatever is interesting at the time.

Max cuddles non-stop. If I'm not feeling well, he'll lay next to me on the sofa in a space I would have thought too narrow, but that's where he has to be if I, or my husband, is lying on the sofa.

For the first time ever, my husband fell as much in love with a dog as I did.

Jim loves telling people the story about how Max got out one day as I was leaving for work, and followed me down the road at 30 m.p.h. for 3 blocks, with a police car behind us!

One day I came home and found the bookcase full of cookbooks pulled from the wall, with half of the books spread across the floor.

The telephone stand was also pulled away from the wall. After I investigated, I realized the look he'd been giving me said "I've been TRYING to tell you we have a mouse! This is where he lives!"

He protected us from the death rays of this mysterious mouse, and I laughed so hard I cried as I put my cookbooks back on the shelves and got the furniture back in place.

Now that you've read about our love for Max (which we can never really explain in a quick story), I can tell you about the pain I've been in for 2 months.

On 1/12/12, we had a blizzard with very high winds that started at about 2:30 a.m. The wind blew our gate open and both dogs got out.

Bella came in at 5:00 a.m. crying like I've never seen her cry before, her coat soaked through with ice and slush.

Max wasn't with her. On the few occasions they've been able to get out, Max comes home quickly and Bella wanders around for a day or two, if we don't find her sooner.

In the first few weeks, we had some possible sightings of Max, and I spent all of my time looking for him, sometimes with the help of my step-son.

Because of a wonderful group of people who read the Facebook Page "Lost and Found Pets of Adams County" I have been befriended by so many people.

Complete strangers have gone out during the day to look for Max, and it seems hundreds of people are praying for his return.

I know he is out there and that someone has him. Even the local police, postal workers, and other government people are out looking for Max. Every day I pray that he will escape from whoever has him and come home to his real family.

We have a large hole in our daily life without our fun-loving and funny Max here by our sides again.

It would be great to have a new collar waiting for him when he gets here!

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